In praise of ... Norway

The Daily Mail sneered at it yesterday as a bland and joyless place. Garrison Keillor, in characteristically gentler vein, regularly teases it for its Lutheran worthiness. But in the space of just seven days Norway has notched up two achievements that should attract the attention and respect of all but the most prejudiced.

The first was to be declared the best place in the world to live in a survey by the United Nations. This accolade is no flash in the pan. Norway has come first in this 177-nation survey for the past five years, since it ousted Canada from top spot in 2001. More importantly, it reflects Norway's enviable ability to sustain the elusive combination of economic prosperity (3.75% growth expected this year) with a strong welfare state and a clean environment.

To this must now be added the result of Monday's Norwegian general election, in which voters bucked the current rightward European trend by returning the country's first majority left-of-centre government in 20 years. Spurning the gospel according to both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, Norway's new prime minister Jens Stoltenberg openly campaigned on a platform of increased welfare spending on education, the elderly and the unemployed (not that Norway has many of the latter).

All that and Ibsen (centenary coming up in 2006) and Munch (opening at the Royal Academy next month) too. If they could bottle and sell their secret to the rest of us, Norwegians would be even richer than they are already.